In the article “3 Ways To Improve Your Ecommerce Site’s Search Function”, I mentioned how search filtering, displaying reviews in search results and allowing users to sort search results are all great ways of improving the search function of your website with an eye towards higher conversion rates. However, these methods are far from the only techniques that you can adopt to help users easily navigate your site with the search function to locate the products they would like to purchase. Here are 3 more ways to improve your site’s search function.
1: Make It Stand Out:
When someone wants to search your site for products, the search bar should be easy to see. Users shouldn’t have to scan the page more than once to see it. It should be clear and obvious without being too in your face. A good example of a search bar that stands out and is easy to find is Ebay’s search bar, highlighted below, it’s clear and simple without being too in your face.
2: Add Social Proof:
Social proof goes beyond simply having a scale of 1-5 stars beside the product listings. An example of this would be putting how many people have purchased the product today/this week or how many people are looking at it right now. This helps to build the user’s trust in the product as well as help them reach the purchasing decision faster by increasing their FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). The hotel booking site, Bookings.com is great at using social proof to boost their sales. Highlighted in the example below is where they show users how many people are viewing the hotel and how many people have booked it today.
3: Autocomplete:
Adding an autocomplete feature to the search functionality of your site makes searches quicker and easier for users. Autocomplete is also a great way to minimise misspelled searches on your site and help make the whole experience more straightforward for the end user. The majority of large ecommerce sites have autocomplete implemented within their site search function. One of them that does it well is Boohoo.com. Below I typed “Li” and I was given several options to help speed up my search.
To improve your site search and increase potential sales make sure you make your search function easily visible, add relevant social proof to your listings wherever possible and add an autocomplete feature to reduce spelling errors and make searches fast for your users. If you are creating a new ecommerce website but you are unable to do it alone, visit our website and find out how we can help